


Freddy's nightshift: 1993

by Ratsnoot



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: All new takes on nightguards and other characters, Canon timeline is out the window buddy, We're going deep into au territory, lets go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-09-13 17:35:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9134281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ratsnoot/pseuds/Ratsnoot
Summary: Six years have passed since Jeremy spent six nights fighting for his life in the after hours of Freddy's Pizzeria, now after troubling dreams he finds the establishment reopened with a new nightguard facing the same dangers he did all those years ago. Together he and Mike try and figure out the company's shadowed past while surviving the grueling nightshift.





	1. Chapter 1

05: 49 AM  
Flash the light.  
Put on the mask.  
Check the music box.  
The determined nightguard went over the list. Again and again every night in a rhythmic pattern. His shift was drawing to a close, only a couple more minutes and he'd be done for the night. His paranoid twitches would return to being simply paranoid twitches, not life saving split second reactions.  
The dull flickering light of the camera feed shone from the computer screen, burning into his tired eyes. The guard tore his gaze from the screen to check the hallway stretching out before him, and felt his breath catch in alarm. Up above him, dangling from the ceiling, barely meters away from his face was a tangled mess of parts. Mismatched robotic limbs with loose wires and bare endoskeleton, the accurately named “Mangle" hung lifeless, dead still and staring right at him.  
What should he do? What  _could_  he do? The one remaining eyeball rolled as his hand crept towards the flashlight, stopping dead again as his hand froze in its tracks. He dared a glance at the time: 05:54. It was a waiting game, but he knew it was a game already lost. A slight creak was all he had as warning before a deafening screech filled his ears and a rush of bared teeth flew towards his face in a flurry of mechanical mayhem and-

Jeremy Fitzgerald jerked in his bed, breathing heavily and fighting to control a tremor running through him. Steadily his breathing relaxed and the tremor ceased, he groaned and rolled over. 06:02 AM.  
Jeremy rubbed his eyes and brushed dark curls of hair from his face, heaving himself up with a yawn. It had been years since his last dream about that job. He'd almost forgotten about it, other troubles and life needs had long since pushed it to the side. He yawned again and stood up, frowning in distaste as a cold winter chill hit him. The heating wasn't great in the apartment, but that was to be expected of one at this cost. Yet despite its “cheap" cost, Jeremy didn't feel confident he'd have enough to pay the rent. Not having a job gave you worries like that.  
His worries, however, melted away to the back of his mind a warm cup of coffee later. He leafed casually through the paper, sat back comfortably and habitually circling job offers he spotted in between the news columns.  
“Oi J!"  
He looked up to his roomate, standing by the fridge with an empty carton. “You finished the milk!" Jasmine frowned in disappointment. Jeremy groaned, draining the last of his coffee.  
“Yeah sorry Jas', I'll go out for more in a sec." Her expression softened to a more friendly smile, tutting good naturedly.  
“Don't sweat it, J. Any luck with that?" she jerked her head at the paper.  
“Not yet." he sighed, standing up, rinsing the mug and looking about for his coat, finding it hung in its usual place.

Not long later the coat was turned up against a crisp breeze threatening to sneak down and under the man's warm clothing. A quick patter caught his attention and he glanced up to the end of the underpass where a shifty fox paused to look back at him.  
 _Flashlight._  
The Fox trotted off, disappearing from his view. Jeremy scowled, seriously? He spotted a wild fox and his first thought was of the flashlight? Dammit that dream had really shaken him up. He tugged at his coat again and pushed it out of his mind, no need to dwell on that old haunt because of a silly dream. Jeremy soon found it retreating to the back of his mind again once he was in town, distracted by colourful window displays and bright sales advertisements. It didn't stay forgotten long though. He thought he must have misread it at first, or his eyes playing tricks on him, but a new notice made him stop dead in the street. There, striking and as iconic as ever, was a Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria.


	2. Mike

He must have looked a little odd to passers by, a short-ish, just past middle aged man staring with a mixture of emotions at a children`s restaurant. Jeremy let his dark brows crease together in confusion and disbelief. How? How on earth was this establishment back in business? After several minutes of standing, frozen solid the rattled man shook himself and shifted uneasily in his position. It shouldn't bother him like this, he`d only worked at one of the old locations for a week. But one week had left him with a cracked rib, a broken collarbone and too many questions.

It couldn`t hurt just to look around, right? Just a quick look, he told himself, crossing the road and heading towards the colourful entrance of the pizzeria. Upon entering Jeremy was greeted by a rush of warm air, the strong waft of party food and the sound of excited playing children. It seemed it was quite lively. The warmth of the heated indoors soothed him and he felt more at ease, slowly heading towards a counter whilst taking in his surroundings. Familiar checkered tiles lined the floor, a few tables had mothers sat at them chatting idly, a couple of children ran up to their parents before running off again into a small soft play place. Still no sight of the infamous animatronic band members other than several more cartoon posters hosting the colourful animals. "Can I help you with anything, sir?" Jeremy turned with a start. Behind him a young woman stood smiling politely.

"Oh! uh, heh, sorry ma`am do excuse me." He chuckled, hastily wondering how to explain his odd behaviour. "I just haven`t seen a Fazbear pizzeria in a long time, it was rather surprising to see one again." The woman nodded, a quizzical look still clear in her freckled features.

"Yes sir, the company was closed down several years ago, but as you can see I`ve- we`re re-opening. We hope to make the Fazbear name a name to be proud of again." She finished with a rehearsed optimism, polite smile still carefully in place. Jeremy kept his own features cautiously friendly, unsure as to how much he should let on.

"Good on you, miss!" He gave her an approving nod, glancing about again. "I used to work at one of the old locations you see." Jeremy kept a keen eye on her reaction, wondering how much this bright ginger woman knew of the company's past. She blinked quizzically again, faltered and looked at him more closely, evidently suspicious.

"One of the old locations you say?" She began, her own eyes darting about for a moment, before her professional smile was forced back into place. "I hope we're up to scratch with presentation then!" followed by a forced chuckle. Jeremy's curiosity grew stronger, pressing him on.

"You've certainly captured the feel, I felt like I just went back six years coming through those doors! Not that I saw the place during the day that much, I worked on the nightshift." The woman's expression clearly flickered then.

"Nightshift? Yes, yes it's always nice to know someone's watching over the place at night."

"That it is, miss, have you got someone here at night?" The former nightguard felt a twinge of guilt, she seemed a pleasant woman and he hated to pressure her like this, but years of curiosity was bubbling up and driving him on. The poor woman did indeed look positively uncomfortable now, but she still stuck firmly to her smile.

"Yes sir, he's filling in for our janitor today, poor chap." She briefly glanced over to the back of the room where a man stood, broom in hand and staring with fixation at something. Jeremy followed his gaze and found his eyebrows rising in surprise. Curtains that had previously been drawn had been pulled back to reveal three animatronic figures.

The lead singer, the iconic top hatted brown bear, Freddy Fazbear himself stood up the front, flanked by the guitar wielding rabbit Bonnie and tufty headed yellow chicken Chica. Their movements were clunky and the speakers crackled a warbled tune, but then, they always had done. These looked like the older models, not the shiny new looking ones Jeremy was familiar with from his time with the establishment. The children were enthralled, eagerly watching the performance, but Jeremy's attention was drawn back to the man holding the broom. The man himself was gangly with a slightly hunched posture, taking several inches off a presumably quite tall height. That was all Jeremy could make of him though from that distance though. The woman had also turned her attention to the stage. Using the distraction as an opportunity Jeremy hastily muttered a quick "Excuse me" and slipped off towards the gangly man. As Jeremy drew closer he picked up instantly on the man`s anxious look, evidently eyeing the animatronics with suspicion.

"Heya kid!" The anxious man jumped, the broom nearly falling from his grip, mouth opening and closing rapidly in shock, finally sputtering out a high pitched, "H-hello!" Jeremy softened his smile, trying to be as gentle as he could with the frightened man, his suspicions practically confirmed by now. "Sorry to be so blunt but the lady over there told me you`re the nightguard here, right?" "Uh..." The man glanced about before nodding. "Yeah, yeah that`s me."

"Right, did you know about Freddy`s before this job?" The man was pulling himself together, now looking more confused than anxious.

"Yeah, it like- it shut down or something, right?"

"That`s right, I used to work at one of the old locations, same job as you." The man blinked, blue eyes squinting in further puzzlement. "Name`s Jeremy." mind racing Jeremy put his hand forwards to shake, the other man automatically took and shook.

"Mike, Mike Schmidt, what`s this all about?"

"I saw the way you looked at those animatronics, which tells me you might want to hear what I have to say about my experience here as a nightguard." Mike`s reactions were rapid and mixed, defence, relief, hope and then suspicion.

“What? What about the nightshift? What about the animatronics? Wh-who are you?" pale blue eyes narrowed with mistrust and the panicky young man took a step back from Jeremy. Jeremy raised his hands to steady him, regretting his startling approach to the situation at hand.

“Whoa there kiddo, I told you, my name is Jeremy and I used to be a nightguard here too. I don't mean to frighten you but you may be at risk and I want to help." He instantly regretted those words as well, biting back a cringe at Mike's fearful twitch covered by yet more mistrust. “look, just calm down a second and hear me out, please." Mike bit his lip, clearly troubled but seemingly getting a hold of himself, nodding cautiously for Jeremy to continue.

“a-alright Mr but if you're wasting my time I'll-I'll get my manager and then you'll have to deal with them!" Jeremy's face crinkled with gentle amusement, but the burning urgency in him kept him from a chuckle.

“I'd take an angry manager over a malfunctioning dangerous robot any day. Look, let's cut the crap here, kiddo, the animatronics, they move about at night, don't they." Mike tensed, nodding curtly.

“off the stage area... The guy said it was free roam mode from-from their old programming or something."

“Did they come after you?"

“No." Mike reconsidered his answer. “Well, not directly, the guy said it's best not to get caught so... I dunno." Jeremy wasn't sure who ´the guy' was, but was glad the kid had a small amount of warning or else he'd probably be dead already.

“Do you know what happens if you get caught?"

“the animatronics think you're a bare skeleton, right? And they try to fix that? Th-that's what the guy on the phone said. "

 _The guy on the phone_.

This was eerily similar. Jeremy nodded, mind still racing. What should he do? He had no place interfering and yet... He just couldn't tear himself away from the allure of mystery. Pulling himself back together, the curious man slapped a firm hand on the boy's shoulder. Mike looked taken aback by the gesture, evidently feeling uncomfortably close. “You're on shift again tonight?"

“y-yeah-"

“keep an eye out and stay safe." Fitzgerald tapped his head in a knowing manner and left. Just like that, marching out of the Pizzeria and onto the street. His mind was a mess of thoughts, but one thing felt firm, he was going to need his flashlight again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is So Sloppy and over half a year late lmao sorry

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello! I've had this story/au lying around for YEARS so now I'm finally trying to do something with it.  
> Also sorry this chapter ends so abruptly I didn't want the first chapter to be that long so I cut off kinda badly, I haven't written in forever so I'm rusty as hell.  
> Anyway, catch ya on the flipside!


End file.
